Date: 31 July, 2019

Dataset Title: Metal pad instability in liquid metal batteries. animations of computed flow regimes

Dataset Creators: Linyan Xiang & Oleg Zikanov

Dataset Contact: Linyan Xiang linyanx@umich.edu

Funding: National Science Foundation (NSF)


Research Overview:
A liquid metal battery is a promising device for effective and inexpensive storage of large amounts of electric energy. We study the hydrodynamic instabilities that may prevent practical realization of such batteries. The animation shows one of them - the rolling pad instability that forces strong waves at the interfaces between the liquid layers within the battery.


Methodology:
The finite volume method (FVM) of the multi-phase flow is applied using solver that is developed based on OpenFOAM. The spatial discretization is of the second order. The first-order simple implicit scheme is applied for time discretization. The PISO algorithm is applied to iteratively solve the momentum and pressure equations. The advection equation for the phase fraction is solved using the explicit Euler time discretization and the spatial discretization by the MULES scheme based on the upwind interpolation outside the interface areas and a delimiter-based combination of the linear and upwind interpolations inside it. The use of the compressive fluxes allows the solver to restrict the numerically diffused interface thickness to a few (typically two or three in our simulations) cell widths.


Instrument and/or Software specifications: OpenFOAM 4.0 for simulation, ParaView 5.3.0 for visualization.


Files contained here:
The folders and simulations are described below:

- Animation for rolling pad instability, unstable flow with saturation (reference case): The vertical magnetic field is 10 mT, electrolyte thickness is 5 mm and the density of electrolyte is 1715 kg/m^3. Filename prefix = Mag10_thckness5_rhoE1715_waveIllustration.mp4

- Zip file: Underlaying data for regeneration of reference case's animation.  The vertical magnetic field is 10 mT, electrolyte thickness is 5 mm and the density of electrolyte is 1715 kg/m^3. Filename prefix = FOAM_Mag10_thickness5_rhoE1715_animation_137s.zip 

Inside the zip file, it includes:
1) 137: underlaying data for the result at t=137s with various fields, i.e., velocity, pressure, electrical current, lorentz force etc.
2) constant: the parameters and the mesh file that are necessary for the underlaying data.
3) system: the control parameter and setting for the given case including the numerical solver, time step, initial condition, mesh size and so on.
4) Mag10_animation.foam: the window file. Open the underlaying data with this file by ParaView.
5) waveillustration.pvsm and ele_upperInterface.pvsm: the 'state' files that can retrive the states for waveillustration and the elevation of upper interface at t=137s.

- Please contact the linyanx@umich.edu and zikanov@umich.edu for any further questions or interested to the code to reproduce underlaying data via OpenFOAM. 

Related publication(s):
- Oleg Zikanov "Shallow water modeling of rolling pad instability in liquid metal batteries" THEORETICAL AND COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS, v.32, 2017, p.325-347

- Linyan Xiang and Oleg Zikanov "Numerical simulation of rolling pad instability in liquid metal batteries" submitted to PHYSICS OF FLUIDS


Use and Access: 
This data set is made available under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).


To Cite Data: 
- Xiang, L., Zikanov, O. (2019). Metal pad instability in liquid metal batteries. animations of computed flow regimes [Data set]. University of Michigan - Deep Blue. https://doi.org/10.7302/xpjk-0t20